Environmental Organizations Submit Joint Recommendations to Shape Global Roadmap to End Deforestation

Emerging from the UNFCCC Global Stocktake, the proposed Roadmap is a Brazilian‑led effort to translate political commitments into implementation. As host of COP30, Brazil is now convening governments, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, businesses and financiers through consultations in 2025–2026 to shape an actionable route with defined priorities, partnerships and follow‑up mechanisms to support implementation beyond COP31. Developed alongside the Roadmap to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, the Roadmap for Halting Deforestation and Forest Degradation is intended to operate in parallel, aligning action on forests and fossil fuels as inseparable climate priorities.

The N4C joint submission reflects a coordinated effort by a broad alliance of environmental organizations, including the Conservation International, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Fauna&Flora, Zoological Society of London (ZLS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Several of the N4C coalition member organizations are also contributing standalone submissions, offering additional technical guidance to support the Presidency.

Together, the coalition argues that the Roadmap represents a rare and critical opportunity to translate decades of commitments, pledges, and technical knowledge into coherent, actionable pathways capable of bending the global deforestation curve before 2030, and becoming one of the most meaningful actions we can take for the climate. Agriculture, forestry, and other land‑use change account for 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with deforestation alone responsible for around 11% of total global emissions, surpassing emissions from the entire global transport sector.

Anand Punja, Director of Stakeholder Relations, FSC International, said: “It’s great to see the process of developing this Roadmap started early in the year, along with the partner roadmap on Fossil Fuels. Forests play an important role in mitigating climate change, and are one of the most cost-effective and natural solutions we have- keeping them standing is essential to our future.

A Potential Turning Point for Global Deforestation

If implemented effectively, the Nature4Climate coalition argues that this Roadmap could fundamentally change the economics and politics of forest protection, shifting incentives so that standing forests are valued more than cleared land. By aligning climate, biodiversity, finance and development agendas, the Roadmap could unlock large‑scale public and private investment, strengthen governance, and accelerate proven solutions such as jurisdictional REDD+, sustainable supply chains and direct finance for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“The problem is no longer a lack of knowledge or solutions. If designed and implemented well, this Roadmap can be a catalytic instrument to align political leadership, finance and on‑the‑ground action, not as another report or library resource, but as a practical framework that drives real‑world implementation. This is about moving beyond paper commitments and making ending deforestation a political priority”, says James Lloyd, Advocacy Lead at Nature4Climate. 

Five Key Recommendations from the Nature4Climate Coalition

In its joint submission, Nature4Climate outlines five core outcomes that it believes are essential for making the Halting Deforestation and Degradation Roadmap effective and actionable by COP31.

1. Develop an inclusive Roadmap through broad consultation

The coalition calls for a bottom‑up process that meaningfully includes governments, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women, youth, civil society, businesses and investors. Inclusivity is seen as essential to ensure the Roadmap reflects diverse national realities, respects rights, and builds the political support needed for implementation.

2. Ensure the Roadmap is technically robust and science‑based

Rather than reinventing the wheel, the Roadmap should synthesize existing scientific evidence, reports and proven solutions. It must also be fully aligned with parallel efforts such as the Roadmap to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, recognizing the growing land‑use pressures linked to mining, oil and gas extraction, and biofuel expansion. Maximizing synergies — and minimizing trade‑offs — between climate and forest goals will be critical.

3. Build on existing international frameworks and initiatives

Nature4Climate urges the COP30 Presidency to anchor this Roadmap within established global frameworks, including the UNFCCC, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, REDD+, and forest finance initiatives such as the Forest & Climate Leaders’ Partnership. This approach would avoid duplication, strengthen coherence, and help scale impact across institutions and countries.

4. Galvanize a global movement

At the heart of the submission is a call to mobilize a coordinated movement bringing together countries, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, businesses and financiers around shared implementation goals.

The coalition stresses that halting deforestation will only be possible with political ownership, collective action and accountability. The proposed mutirão should focus on:

• Championing coordinated action across sectors and scales, aligning global programmes, national and subnational policies, corporate commitments, public budgets and investment flows to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation.
• Embedding forest commitments into core national frameworks, including budgets, regulations and financial instruments, and reflecting them across NDCs, NAPs, NBSAPs and Land Degradation Neutrality targets to ensure long‑term delivery.
• Driving integrated climate and biodiversity action, including national roadmaps to halt forest loss, awareness‑raising and environmental education, and support for country‑led approaches such as FCLP Country Packages.
• Building solidarity‑based structures for equitable benefit‑sharing, recognizing forest protection as a responsibility owed to vulnerable communities and future generations, in line with principles of justice and international legal guidance.
• Building on COP30 outcomes, including the COP30 Action Agenda, Plans of Accelerated Solutions, the IPLC Forest Tenure Pledge, the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, DCF finance commitments and the Forest Finance Roadmap, with the Climate Champions Team playing a continued facilitative role.

5. Establish a follow‑up and coordination process beyond COP31

Finally, the submission highlights the need for continuity. The Roadmap should include a clear follow‑up mechanism, interim coordination structures and progress tracking, ensuring leadership transitions smoothly beyond COP30 and that momentum is sustained through COP32 and beyond.

At a moment when scientists warn that critical forest ecosystems, including the Amazon, are approaching irreversible tipping points, the coalition’s message is clear: the tools exist, the evidence is overwhelming, and the window for action is rapidly closing. The Halting Deforestation and Degradation Roadmap, they argue, must now move beyond analysis and guidance to become a practical instrument that coordinates, directs and amplifies existing efforts, ensuring the international community shifts decisively into implementation at scale by 2030, and sustains that action beyond — or risk becoming yet another missed opportunity in the fight against global deforestation.